In Germany, they came for the Trade Unionists first.

Image via Wikipedia

by: NarsBars Sat Feb 26, 2011 at 17:05:00 PM EST

Today in Augusta there was a Rally to support the Wisconsin Unions. Historical note: In Germany prior to the start of WWII one of the first groups to be arrested, or killed or jailed, before even the Jews, were the trade Unionists. This has nothing to do with Nazism, this is just a comparison to how Unions are viewed by an authoritarian state. The war on labor is now global, not local. I arrived an hour or more early hoping to meet up with friends, perhaps seeking support in a group. At the beginning I was parked in the wrong spot and it looked as if there were many, many, Tea Party protesters showing up and I didn't see a Union bumper sticker in the crowd. I arrived early, afraid that there could a huge crowd of Tea Party members and a few lonely Union supporters in the cold Maine winter. Leaving my eleven year old Escort, I nearly took off my SEIU hat to walk past the pile of angry people and elderly codgers old enough to have their Social Security and their Medicare, but squared my hat, and walked up the hill. It was like walking towards a sun rise. As I came over the hill I saw like yellow clouds blocking the sun, a few Tea Party flags and members, maybe a hundred. I am no crowd estimator but in moments I found how small the crowd really was. Give em credit, the Koch brothers have bought them very nice flags. Then further into the light, I saw tens, and then hundreds and hundreds of our fellow Mainers, Union members, private citizens not a part of any Union and all around me the crowd kept streaming in. Unlike the Tea Party they were smiling, not hating. We sang, we had our own signs, made from the heart, we had solidarity! I especially liked "Little beards against LePage" The bad news is I sang too, but at least I was drowned out by the hundreds of proud tax paying citizens there to support Wisconsin, to support labor in Maine, and YES to support Maine State employees. The speakers were great, they spoke about the need for us to all support each other or be torn apart one at a time. The messages were all positive, no hate for Republicans, just a demand that we be heard, that we be a part of the solution. Several Democratic representatives were there, speaking in no uncertain terms. Yes, the economy is bad but it is no reason to break decades of promises, to steal bread, medicine, and heating oil, from retirees, while refusing to bargain over what can be done. (The LePage budget would make it illegal for State Employees to offer concessions to keep their pensions). Yes, would make concessions illegal.   Our Democratic representatives said clearly they knew that this was not a budget issue, that this is no less than an attack on all labor, an attempt to break all Unions across the country and end the rights of all employees to have a say in their working conditions. I offered one of the representatives the first free hotel room in Massachusetts. I told her,  "Lord of the Rings" allusion to riding out to face the foes regardless of the odds had grabbed me by the heart. All around me brothers and sisters chimed in, offering more support and more free hotel rooms. It can happen but only if they have our backing. This is a fight for life, a fight for all labor, not just an MSEA issue. Republican or Democrat the legislature must hear from us. The Republicans don't like a governor who is trying to order them around, it appears there will be a 2/3 budget. They want Democratic buy in to the budget, we must back up our reps and let the Rs know we will vote. I know many State Employees will be there on the 3rd and the 4th but we need Union members, moms and dads that want good teachers, not lowest bid for profit schools, to be there for the teachers on the 5th. We will be there for each other. There were sad moments too, looking up the hill to see the few Tea Party members, engaged in Democratic action, but so sadly misinformed, their movement stolen and used by the corporation agenda to make them fight their neighbors, to hate their neighbors, forgetting that they they have been used, and already forgotten and ridiculed by those they helped elect. Don't make the mistake of thinking the Tea Party is all negative. They are Mainers too but their energy is being transformed to hate, their movement stolen by a few for the benefit of a few. The Tea Party ideals have been perverted to serve power, and laughed at by those who will never have enough until everyone else has nothing. Stay home if you must, if you are taking care of family, or sick, but try to be part of history, this may not be the best chance you ever missed, this may be your last chance. I will take vacation, I will take unpaid time off. What I will not do is to let someone else do this for me. I will be part of this, win lose or draw. I will stand with my brothers and sisters and know that we have done everything possible. In solidarity, I hope to see you there. Narsbars

I want to thank Gerald at Dirigoblue for being an inspiration. I wish I had ten percent of his talent and professional skills. Please add Dirigoblue to your regular reading.

Enter your Email


Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Ghost Town

Image by Kim Scarborough via Flickr
How to turn a Pro-Union website into a Ghost Town.
Posted by NarsBars on September 6, 2010.
Disclaimer: I receive no help from organized labor. I do this on my own time, no Union money. no support, from anyone but friends.
I have not tried to make money from this website, and I have not made one penny from it. Small bundles of unmarked cash gladly accepted
Hello and Welcome,
I have not posted since May but the constant attacks on our members and the stream of ignorant and hateful lies told by some of the Gubernatorial candidates is forcing me to get back in to the fight.
The point of this article is exactly that, getting back in to the fight. If we only wait for others, hired or elected, to protect our bacon, then the right wing will be eating our lunch and we will be forced to pay the tab.
NarsBars here. By day I am a State Employee in Maine, and by night, a computer geek and social media user. I created this website out of hope over two years ago and then let it drop. I was burned out and I just ran down.
At first, I only wanted to build a Pro Union site to balance the bullshit told by the likes of AMG. Then I realized that our Union and our Union members must take action in order to remain relevant and have a say in our futures.
I can't balance the right wing bullshit by myself, but with help we can make a difference.
Union Activism in Maine got employees the benefits that are being attacked by the right as if we had stolen the money we earned or the benefits we have negotiated for. Never is there a mention that our Union has been warning about the theft of retirement funds for decades. We have sounded the alarm and the legislature has yawned.
Pensions, vacations, and a clearly defined pay scale. Are we to be the last State Employees to have the right to a good job for hard work?
Our pay and benefits are being attacked but the economy alone does not explain why the lies used to attack us are going unchallenged. We would not be in a position of weakness if both Union membership and Union Union Activism were not falling.....
A labor Union is when done right, is run by and for workers to achieve common goals. The goals of a Union may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, grievance procedures, rules governing hiring, firing, promotions, benefits, and workplace safety and policies. The contracts negotiated by your Union are legally binding on the rank and file members and the employer.
A Union, through its leadership, and elected negotiations teams, bargains with our employer on behalf of Union members (rank and file members) and negotiates labor contracts (Collective bargaining) with employers
.
The most common, purpose of a Union is maintaining or improving the conditions of employment.
The strength of a government Employee Union has always been numbers. Numbers means votes, numbers mean money, the two most highly rated items on a politician's breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu.
It is not just a falling membership that has weakened Unions, it is a quieter membership. We can either remember or have heard the stories of Union members being shot, terrorized, or at the least fired for wanting a better life for their families. Those members spoke up, they shouted, they were heard by the political animals.
Sadly, Union membship has gotten older and more involved in American Idol than in a safe retirement. Union leadership has been slow to adapt to new technologies and new media.This year, in Maine, the first organzied rumblings to attack pensions is being heard and this is just a reflection of the national debate where Social Security is under attack. Make no mistake, the Republicans want you to give up your pay and your retirement to feed the CEOs and an endless war.
If Unions don't learn how to use social media they will continue to lose ground in the court of public opinion. Do you want your fate determined by the commenters on Limbaugh the druggie, or on AMG, the cowardly? While you may be willing to debate, AMG bans any liberal voice that tries to be "fair and balanced"?
Every day, sites like these feed raw meat to those with no goals but greed and hate, no feelings jealousy fueled by ignorance. Those who hate Unions and all labor rights have already learned to adapt and evolve and we are being left behind.
In real-life our members use Facebook, Twitter, Email, Myspace, reddit, and more. Nearly all Union workers agree on some basics. Fair pay, for hard work, and we expect the promises made over decades to be kept.
Many Union workers read blogs, but few post labor links, and make comments defending Unions, not because they don't care, but because they have been sold the idea that they can't make a difference. Some are so suicidal they will vote for LePage, the former mayoral hand puppet of Waterville.
Anti-Union conversations happen in real time, opinions are shaped quickly. The uninformed don't need thought, they don't need facts.The torches are lit, and the right gives out free pitchforks. If our members don't put out a pro-Union narrative, who will?
Union headquarters can't possibly keep up with the opinion-shaping conversations on the Internet. There are too many of them, they erupt spontaneously virtually anywhere...
So, what are Union members to do going forward? When you hear an anti-Union comment, Tweet back, BULLSHIT!, post the truth on Facebook, speak up in support of Unions when lies are heard.
Our Union and our members can recognize the inevitable, which means the "Stater" isn't enough. Letting our staff do the communications is not enough, Union activism must adopt and adapt to different platforms, technologies, networks, the members must use these technologies or...
We can cling to the obsolete top-down, Staff and our board of directors can do it all model which has resulted in the loss of raises and cuts in benefits for over a decade.
My hope is that Union members come along, "ah-ha" join the networks and support it, and explore where communications are already happening.
Our Union has gotten ahead of so many and has a Facebook page, my hope is to see Union headquarters build on this and use these platforms to communicate, to organize and to inform.
In the past we used the phone, some letters, a Union publication, the new social networks did not exist before. SEIU and NUHW are at war, but look at the tools used, both sides have developed a working model that shows what an effective use of media looks like when built.
If you can see the potential in using Union social media please use them yourself and show your support by banding together to fight back against the lies and the attacks on honest employees.
Make one comment on a blog, at a new site. You can make a difference.
P.S. Anyone have an account on AMG? I want someone to ask why NARSBARS was banned with no notice, no reason. Be warned you may be banned for even asking.
Enter your Email


Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Democrats trying early for Union support

October 25, 2009

Several of the prospective Democratic candidates for governor may be coming to the MSEASEIU convention next week.

Candidates will come to the Samoset resort not just to court the 8,500-dues paying members of MSEASEIU that are State employees.

They are trying to reach the large block of voters that are in other MSEASEIU locals, and the estimated 40 to 50 thousand voters that are family and friends of Union members. 

 Even though the primaries and then the “real” elections are months away, Politicians know Union members vote. 

Along with the candidates for governor several candidates for the house and the Senate are expected also. This was not a closed affair and any candidate from any party was welcome to speak.

Does Congress think Public Option Is Too Good For the Public?

Image via Wikipedia

President Johnson Signing the Medicare Bill

This is an open letter to our Federal representatives from Maine.

You have all received a request for some public information about Health care.

So far your offices refuse to divulge what benefits I pay for as a tax payer. I am asking again in this letter and proving my reasons for asking.

I am not a lobbyist. I am not a CEO.

Will you answer me?

You, our Representatives have "Public Option" , choices provided by the Government, and run by private insurers. If this is so bad why won't your offices provide the information requested on your plans? Why are some of you against a Public option for us, not just for you?

I called, and emailed your offices requesting help. I want to have some facts on health care to help me make up my mind.

My questions to your offices were few. I requested a copy of the explanation of benefits for the plan each Congressional representative has chosen. What is covered? How much does it cost? Who pays and how much? Do I continue to pay for your plan when you retire?

Update 10:50 AM Thursday 9-3-09 I just got a call from Congressman Michaud's office whose staff has promised to try to get the documents requested. Should take over a week" was the quote.

I already know you have no limits and unlike the insurance your constituents have you are never afraid your plan will be canceled simply because you became sick and needed the benefits.

I have heard health care reform called socialized medicine and when Medicare, Veterans care, and more were pointed out as Government run programs many members of Congress sat by quietly either not supporting health care reform or trying to ignore taking a stand.

You and all members of Congress have a public option plan. One of the best plans available with choices that allow you to choose the plan that fits your stage of life, your family and your budget.

Some Republicans and some Democrats are willing to avoid this truth and refuse to let the rest of

America share in the same health care you receive the moment you are sworn in.

We already have a public option for health care. Why can't I join up? What is it we are asking for?

The public wants what you are reserving for yourself, as a Federal employee, with a public option

How many choices does the public have? If you work for a private employer you are normally limited to whatever they offer and what ever changes they make you can like it or lump it. Federal Employees, Congress included, have the largest selection of plans in the country.

Don't like your plan? Kids leave home? Married? Want a high deductible plan or a plan that covers everything? Every year a Federal employee, Congress included, can change their health insurance.

You can not be denied coverage even if you have a pre-existing condition.

Is there choice when using a public option? Federal employees are able to choose from Blue Cross, Humana, Aetna, United HealthCare and several more.

A member of Congress can choose:

Health Plan Choices for Congress. Too many, too confusing, too affordable for the public?

• Types of Plans
• Description of Plans
• Participating Plans
• Coordination of Benefits
• Coordination with Medicare
• Payment of Benefits in Medically Underserved Areas
• Your Health Plan Choice

TYPES OF PLANS

• Fee-for-Service Plans
• Health Maintenance Organizations
• Point of Service
• High Deductible Health Plans
• Consumer-Driven Health Plans

Fee-for-service plans and health maintenance organizations (HMOs).

Fee-for-Service Plans

You may choose your own physician, hospital, and other health care providers.

Fee-for-service plans include:

• The Government wide Service Benefit Plan, administered by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association on behalf of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans, and is open to everyone eligible to enroll under the FEHB Program.
• Plans sponsored by unions and employee organizations. Some of these plans are open to all Federal employees who hold full or associate memberships in the organizations that sponsor the plans; others are restricted to employees in certain occupational groups and/or agencies. Generally, the employee organization requires a membership fee or dues paid directly to the employee organization, in addition to the premium. This fee is set by the employee organization and is not negotiated with OPM.
  

Several Health Maintenance Organizations

Your physician is responsible for obtaining any pre-certification required for inpatient admissions or other procedures.

Three types of HMOs are:

• Group Practice Plans.
• Individual Practice Plans.
• Mixed Model Plans.

Point of Service

High Deductible Health Plans

Your health plan establishes for you either a Health Savings Account (HSA) or a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA).

Consumer-Driven Health Plans

A consumer-driven plan provides you with freedom in spending health care dollars the way you want. The typical plan has common features: member responsibility for certain up-front medical costs, an employer-funded account that you may use to pay these up front costs, and catastrophic coverage with a high deductible. You and your family receive full coverage of in-network preventive care.

Choices, choices, choices. Do you think this is just too confusing for the public?

As a State Employee I have health care. My health care costs nearly $6000.00 a year for family coverage.

Then I have deductibles, then I have co-pays, then I have the Republican party attacking the benefits I have as "golden" while Congress continues to reserve the public option for the select few.

What do you pay Representative? What are your benefits and Co-pays?

I asked your offices and been blown off, ignored, and told to go find it my self. Are you afraid of the truth? Who do you represent, Mainers or the health insurance industry?

Some Federal employees pay under $100.00 per month for single coverage. Congress has the same choices as other Federal employees, so what does it cost? How much is the tax payer paying for you?

I keep hearing "the government will control your doctor, and ration your care."

Is this true now? When you seek medical care, do you deal with with a government agent or do you make health choices between you and your doctor?

Congress makes the laws, if you didn't like your health care you would have changed it in the same way the Senate made the hard choice to refuse to raise the minimum wage for years while providing themselves a $30,000.00 a year raise. The Congressional plan you have is the same plan some call "government run".

The public option is the same plan Congress has and wants to keep for itself. The members of Congress who are violently against a public option view Americans as stupid, lazy, and gullible.

If Congress blocks a public option, then the insurance industry will continue to grow richer. The millions of uninsured will not be able to afford effective insurance just because you pass a mandate.

If you mandate coverage with no public option insurance companies will simply offer a product guaranteed to cover them, not us and we will be paying tithes to companies and receiving no benefits in return.

Why should you be concerned?

The health care debate won't affect

your coverage and your family will never go without needed care.

Congress will keep their government "Public Option" health care no matter what happens to us.

Enter your Email





Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Related articles by Zemanta

• New AARP Poll: 86 Percent Say Insurance Should be Available to All (dailykos.com)

Before there were Unions Free Market Capatalism Was Free to Grow

I've got nothing tonight, but a civics lesson and a history lesson. Our tax dollars paid for the article below and it is free for all of us.

Many some ones paid for our right to be free and to have a chance to organize and to try to earn a living for our selves and our families. We have to learn the history of the so called free market and the real results of deregulation or we will be doomed to repeat them.

Http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/hine-photos/

Teaching With Documents:
Photographs of Lewis Hine: Documentation of Child Labor

Background

"There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profit only to employers. The object of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work."

-- Lewis Hine, 1908

After the Civil War, the availability of natural resources, new inventions, and a receptive market combined to fuel an industrial boom. The demand for labor grew, and in the late 19th and early 20th centuries many children were drawn into the labor force.

Factory wages were so low that children often had to work to help support their families. The number of children under the age of 15 who worked in industrial jobs for wages climbed from 1.5 million in 1890 to 2 million in 1910.

Businesses liked to hire children because they worked in unskilled jobs for lower wages than adults, and their small hands made them more adept at handling small parts and tools. Children were seen as part of the family economy.

Immigrants and rural migrants often sent their children to work, or worked alongside them. However, child laborers barely experienced their youth. Going to school to prepare for a better future was an opportunity these underage workers rarely enjoyed.

As children worked in industrial settings, they began to develop serious health problems. Many child laborers were underweight. Some suffered from stunted growth and curvature of the spine.

They developed diseases related to their work environment, such as tuberculosis and bronchitis for those who worked in coal mines or cotton mills. They faced high accident rates due to physical and mental fatigue caused by hard work and long hours.

By the early 1900s many Americans were calling child labor "child slavery" and were demanding an end to it. They argued that long hours of work deprived children of the opportunity of an education to prepare themselves for a better future.

Instead, child labor condemmed them to a future of illiteracy, poverty, and continuing misery. In 1904 a group of progressive reformers founded the National Child Labor Committee, an organization whose goal was the abolition of child labor. The organization received a charter from Congress in 1907.

It hired teams of investigators to gather evidence of children working in harsh conditions and then organized exhibitions with photographs and statistics to dramatize the plight of these children. These efforts resulted in the establishment in 1912 of the Children's Bureau as a federal information clearinghouse. In 1913 the Children's Bureau was transferred to the Department of Labor.

Lewis Hine, a New York City schoolteacher and photographer, believed that a picture could tell a powerful story.

He felt so strongly about the abuse of children as workers that he quit his teaching job and became an investigative photographer for the National Child Labor Committee. Hine traveled around the country photographing the working conditions of children in all types of industries.

He photographed children in coal mines, in meatpacking houses, in textile mills, and in canneries. He took pictures of children working in the streets as shoe shiners, newsboys, and hawkers.

In many instances he tricked his way into factories to take the pictures that factory managers did not want the public to see. He was careful to document every photograph with precise facts and figures.

To obtain captions for his pictures, he interviewed the children on some pretext and then scribbled his notes with his hand hidden inside his pocket.

Because he used subterfuge to take his photographs, he believed that he had to be "double-sure that my photo data was 100% pure--no retouching or fakery of any kind." Hine defined a good photograph as "a reproduction of impressions made upon the photographer which he desires to repeat to others." Because he realized his photographs were subjective, he described his work as "photo-interpretation."

Hine believed that if people could see for themselves the abuses and injustice of child labor, they would demand laws to end those evils. By 1916, Congress passed the Keating-Owens Act that established the following child labor standards: a minimum age of 14 for workers in manufacturing and 16 for workers in mining; a maximum workday of 8 hours; prohibition of night work for workers under age 16; and a documentary proof of age.

Unfortunately, this law was later ruled unconstitutional on the ground that congressional power to regulate interstate commerce did not extend to the conditions of labor. Effective action against child labor had to await the New Deal. Reformers, however, did succeed in forcing legislation at the state level banning child labor and setting maximum hours. By 1920 the number of child laborers was cut to nearly half of what it had been in 1910.

Lewis Hine died in poverty, neglected by all but a few. His reputation continued to grow, however, and now he is recognized as a master American photographer.

His photographs remind us what it was like to be a child and to labor like an adult at a time when labor was harsher than it is now.

Hine's images of working children stirred America's conscience and helped change the nation's labor laws. Through his exercise of free speech and freedom of the press, Lewis Hine made a difference in the lives of American workers and, most importantly, American children.

Hundreds of his photographs are available online from the National Archives through the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) .

Resources

Foner, Eric, and John A. Garraty, eds. The Reader's Companion to American History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.

Nash, Gary B., et al. The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1990.

Tindall, George Brown, with David E. Shi. America: A Narrative History. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1992.

The Documents

Click to Enlarge

Garment Workers, New York, NY
January 25, 1908
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523065

Click to Enlarge

Basket Seller, Cincinnati, OH
August 22, 1908
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523070

Click to Enlarge

Boys and Girls Selling Radishes
August 22, 1908
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523071

Click to Enlarge

Boy Working in a Shoe-Shining Parlor, Indianapolis, IN
August 1908
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523072

Top of Page

Click to Enlarge

Boys in a Cigar Factory, Indianapolis, IN
August 1908
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523076

Click to Enlarge

Boy Running "Trip Rope" in a Mine, Welch, WV
September 1908
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523077

Click to Enlarge

Children Working in a Bottle Factory, Indianapolis, IN
August 1908
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523080

Click to Enlarge

The Noon Hour at an Indianapolis Cannery, Indianapolis IN
August 1908
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523088

Click to Enlarge

Glass Blower and Mold Boy, Grafton, WV
October 1908
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523090

Click to Enlarge

Girls at Weaving Machines, Evansville, IN
October 1908
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523100

Top of Page

Click to Enlarge

Young Boys Schucking Oysters, Apalachicola, FL
January 25, 1909
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523162

Click to Enlarge

Girl Working in Box Factory, Tampa, FL
January 28, 1909
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523166

Click to Enlarge

Nine-Year Old Newsgirl, Hartford, CT
March 6, 1909
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523174

Click to Enlarge

Boy Picking Berries, Near Baltimore, MD
June 8, 1909
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523205

Click to Enlarge

Workers Stringing Beans, Baltimore, MD
June 7, 1909
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523215

Click to Enlarge

Boys Working in an Arcade Bowling Alley, Trenton, NJ
December 20, 1909
National Archives and Records Administration
Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau
Record Group 102
ARC Identifier: 523246

Enter your Email





Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

The State of the Unions

Image via Wikipedia

Connecticut

May 8, 2008

Twenty Nine bargaining units, which signed off on the

SEBAC agreement, agreed to a wage freeze this year

and a 2.5 percent wage increase in each of the

following years.

New York

June 5 2009

ALBANY — Gov. David A Paterson and the state’s public employee unions announced an agreement on Friday that would reduce pension benefits for future public employees

The Governor gave the unions significant incentives and dropped earlier demands for concessions from current employees.

One critic said the agreement shows the power of the state employee unions, whose workers this year beat back a pay freeze, a one-week furlough and then layoffs.

Vermont

June 04, 2009

Floyd Nease, Majority Leader in the Vermont House released this statement in response to the Vermont State Employees Associations filing of an injunction to stop the firing of state workers:

The Governors determination to fire our state workforce regardless of the impact on services to Vermonters is irresponsible and may well be illegal. The legislatures budget makes it clear that firings of this magnitude should undergo scrutiny and be accountable to Vermonters. The administration has clearly overreached. I applaud the VSEAs efforts to stop it.

When times are good workers in the private sector mock State Employees for working for their low wages. When times were good and stock options, profit sharing, bonuses, Christmas bonuses were all the rage, my salary was a joke. I got a much lower salary, a couple of more holidays and a pension. When the economy fell, the private sector folks who were living high, think my salary is a fair target.

I want to keep my job and take care of my family. I believe government has a valuable and necessary place in providing some services to our society; Government should always try to be efficient and responsible with our citizen’s dollars.

How about instead of cutting state jobs for publicity and votes, why not make cuts that make sense? Why not work to reduce duplication in state agencies, and why not remove the administrative overload that any state employee can point out?

Irony

May 6, 2009: Governor Jim Doyle declares May 6, 2009 as State Employee Recognition Day and thanks state workers for their superior efforts.

May 8, 2009: Governor Jim Doyle announces layoffs, furloughs, and pay cuts for state employees.

The cry continues to say good riddance to State Employees State employees didn’t create our state’s budget deficits

Mainers should remember that these are not faceless bureaucrats in Augusta. These employees investigate consumer complaints, prison guards, parole officers, issue driver’s licenses, monitor air and water quality, provide safe homes for abused children, and so many important jobs. They are your neighbors, family members and friends who inspect our bridges and roads to make sure we are safe for us and our families.

We work for you, we respect you; please don’t take cutting our pay or putting us out of work lightly.

Starbucks buckles under, Settles Another Labor Dispute.

Jun 02, 2009

Starbucks just settled the sixth labor dispute in three years! According to the settlement, Starbucks must now allow Minneapolis-area workers to discuss unions and post union materials in break areas, and the company can no longer kick union sympathizers out of its stores.

Starbucks routinely prevents employees from working enough hours to qualify for the company's health insurance. When, workers attempt to remedy this problem by forming a union, Starbucks violates labor laws by firing or intimidating them, going so far as to actively oppose the Employee Free Choice Act.

Enter your Email





Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Is that collar getting tight?

No Cartoon, No jokes, this is too serious for humor.

I must put in a disclaimer. I am not an attorney. I am not giving legal advice or counsel.
This is not an official or unofficial Union communication. This is my opinion and my opinion alone.

Ask a Union representative before implementing any of these suggestion. Take any questions to a professional.

Since the State has money troubles State Employee are expected to chip in, and we have always been willing to chip in if we were only asked.

The legislature refused to bargain and claimed that since they could club us, we had given concessions. A request to help would have worked, but they saw us as they must see themselves.

Now it is going too far.

This is aimed solely at Overtime eligible employees. I will go over what we can do about abuses of the system for salaried employees in another post.

Hourly employees are being told that no overtime is allowed and then given fifty hours of work to do in a week. Upper management is hinting that if you can't do your work...........maybe you will be in trouble.

First always do what your manager orders you to do, unless it is a clearly illegal or personally dangerous action.
You and your Union can file a grievance later but it is hard to fight insubordination.

This is the advice I am giving to State Employees.

Many State Employees are working over 40 hours every week, but not allowed to collect overtime. Are you and your friends being told not to write down time you work?. If you don't YOU are the one falsifying a time sheet.

This is the only solution I can see. You must refuse to work over 40 hours in a week unless you are paid. No free work. It is against the law to give you personal days in place of OT.

If you have meetings four hours away, go there, let management know you can not stay unless OT is approved if the end of the day will put you over 40 hours in a week. Vacation, Sick, and Holiday hours do not count.

If time is authorized or refused, act according to what they say. Remember, you must obey any directions given, then file a grievance, if the boss says stay, you stay, if the boss says go, you go. Then the employee says "Here is your grievance".

At the end of 40 hours even if it is on a Wednesday or Thursday make sure you tell your supervisor your plan to be back at your reporting station at the end of 40 and go home if OT is not authorized.

You must request permission in every case, you must follow directions even if permission is not given, and you must fill out an accurate time sheet. If OT is refused, take notes, save emails, and go home!

Hourly Employees can be given personal days in addition to OT, but not in place of. That is an illegal practice under Federal law.

The Fair Labor Standards Act makes it illegal for you to falsify your time sheet. It is also illegal for an employer to refuse to pay hourly employees for hours worked over 40 even if they have a policy against it.

On the other hand you can be disciplined for filling out a false time sheet, or for working over 40 hours if there is a policy in place.

If your management is aware of this happening on an ongoing basis you can get Federal protection.

State employees must only work for what they are paid for. The dedication we have always brought to our jobs, the willingness to give a little more has been laughed at.

We are not respected for the free work.

No more Free Work. We will give them everything they are paying for.

They like to pretend respect for our labor but they think like mill owners of old using their victims with no respect.

These are our politicians. When they want power they promise or say anything to get elected but when they get the power they forget about the voters, and discard their ideals.

Enter your Email





Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

We have lost a Friend

Members of SEIU 1989 recently lost one of their own. One of our long term field reps, one of the best, was hired by our the State's Human Resources Dept, A.K.A. "The Dark Side", the same group your negotiations team and your stewards sit across the table from. Someone who knows how we think, what we were talking about this contract year, has now joined the dark side and taken his knowledge of our plans with him.

While he won't be working for us I know he won't be giving up our secrets just to get ahead. This guy has honor and I trust him. In this case we don't have a problem. Our ex rep will probably be one of the "good guys" in HR and he will know when we are right as we defend our members and our contract.

The issue is, his years of skill will be put to work to defeat our members in grievances and job actions. He did his best for us, and he will do his best for HR, his best is damn good!

That worries me. I liked this rep, he did great work for members in the past, but I have to ask, how long the recruitment dance has been going on for, under cover, without MSEASEIU staff being aware. Is it only this rep or have they made an approach to other SEIU staff?
While thinking about offers, can a rep focus on representing our members? Will they worry they might do something that could kill the job offer? Do our members get the representation they need when staff is being solicited? Work done for our members after a job is sought or offered is done under conflict of interest.

We won't have an enemy in HR this time, possibly even a friend, but what about the next time and the time after that?
We have to know why someone would take an offer like this and we need to prevent it in the future.

Our board of directors should take action to prevent this hostile raiding in the future. Our members deserve to receive representation without divided loyalties. Is this betrayal or did the State just make an offer he couldn't refuse? Maybe the State is paying more.

SEIU employees have NO retirement, and from what I have seen, when they are working for us, they have no lives except the Union. To retire they have to save for themselves and I can only imagine what has happened to their plans in the last few months. It can't be good.

Maybe the benefits that field rep helped us win in the past are better than the SEIU provides employees. Maybe the reality of having to live and feed your family overcame any dedication to Labor Rights. There are many reasons why someone changes jobs. Money, family, health care, retirement, or just a more interesting job.

The worst scenario is if our Rep. looked around, heard things, and decided he wanted be a winner. Did he hear something from the other side while being recruited that made him think he was on the losing side?
We think we know what we are losing. What is HR gaining? The rep has helped to plan our bargaining in the past. He knows how we think and what we would use to win a contract or win a grievance. He knew some of our bargaining priorities and strategies for this year. He will never give up our private information, the real danger is brain drain, our reps know how we think, and we are hurt when we lose someone with his skills, abilities, and historical knowledge.

Human Resources, might see him rightly or wrongly as an ace in the hole, a resource they can use to counter our stewards, our bargaining teams, or just to break our spirit. That rep is lost to us, but we cannot let this continue! We don't know why he left or what they offered him. We can plan for the future. It is time to let the reps still working for us know that we are grateful for their years of service and all the help they have given our members. We can't let one incident change our opinion of this great bunch of men and women, that don't have many of the benefits they have helped us win for ourselves.

O.K. it is a lousy situation but how do we fix it? Both Unions and Business have known two ways to protect themselves from hostile knowledge raiders for decades: pay them more and have a Non-Compete Clause. We have lost a lot of staff recently and we have trouble attracting field reps to Maine. The MSEASEIU rep pay scale may seem good on the raw numbers but in the same way we compare our salaries to other states you need to compare rep salaries to other states. MSEASEIU rep pay is significantly lower and comes with reduced benefits in Maine, how else could the State or even other Unions hire our staff even in this economy?

The second method, a non-compete clause, has become more common in some contracts especially when it protects "secrets" or information that could unfairly advantage the entity hiring an insider.
No one would want to prevent someone from making a living in their field of expertise. You don't want to lock them in to one job and have a miserable employee. It is immoral to prevent someone from finding another job.
What would be wrong with an agreement preventing an SEIU employee from taking an HR position with any company, in Maine, employing members represented by MSEASEIU? You could make it easier by limiting the restriction to only a year. I don't know what the staff contract says or doesn't say on non-compete. But it certainly looks like something needing investigation.

Sign up for UnionMaine updates! Enter your Email





Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz